5.  The applicant was born in 1973 and lives in Lviv.
6.  On 17 August 2010 the applicant notified the Lviv City Mayor on behalf of a local human-rights NGO, “Vartovi zakonu”, of its intention to hold a demonstration every Tuesday from 10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the building of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office during the period between 17 August 2010 and 1 January 2011. The aim of the demonstration was to draw attention to the issue of corruption in the prosecution service. The number of possible participants was declared as up to fifty persons. There is no information as to whether any such demonstration was held prior to 12 October 2010 (see below).
7.  On 5 October 2010 the Executive Committee of the Lviv City Council lodged a claim with the Lviv Administrative Court seeking to restrict the demonstration announced by the applicant. On 6 October 2010 the court left the above claim without consideration as being submitted too late. The Executive Committee resubmitted its claim on 11 October with a request for renewal of the time-limit for lodging the claim. The same day the court allowed the request and accepted the claim for examination.
8.  On Tuesday 12 October 2010, further to his previous announcement of 17 August 2010, the applicant informed the City Council about the demonstration to be held on that particular day. He thus organised a peaceful demonstration near the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office later that day between 11.30 a.m. and 12.40 a.m. About twenty-five persons took part. They were standing on the pavement in front of the building of the Prosecutor’s Office when the police told them that they should remain at a distance of five metres from the building. That would have forced the demonstrators to stand in the road and obstruct the traffic. After some discussion with the police, they crossed the road and stood on a lawn on the opposite side. The police, however, told the demonstrators that they could not stand on the lawn and should move away, which meant standing in the road again and obstructing the traffic, causing temporary traffic-jams.
9.  Immediately afterwards, the applicant was called aside by two police officers. They grabbed his arms and took him in the direction of the nearby police station. Some of the demonstrators requested the officers to show them their identification and started filming the incident; the officers then let the applicant go.
10.  On 13 October 2010 the Lviv Regional Administrative Court granted a request by the Executive Committee of the Lviv City Council to prohibit the holding of the pre-announced demonstrations by the applicant’s NGO as from 19 October 2010. The decision was appealed against.
11.  According to the applicant, on the same day he was invited to the police station on the pretext that he had failed to appear at a court hearing to which he had been summoned. Upon his arrival at the Galytskyy District Police Station at about 5 p.m., the police accused the applicant of having committed the administrative offences of malicious disobedience to a lawful order by the police and of breaching the procedure for organising and holding a demonstration on 12 October. Between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. the police drew up reports on those administrative offences. The applicant telephoned his lawyer, but the latter was not allowed onto the premises of the police station. At 11 p.m. the applicant was placed in a cell, where he remained without food until 3 p.m. on the next day, 14 October 2010.
12.  On 14 October 2010, before taking him to the court, the police drew up anew the reports on the administrative offences of malicious disobedience to a lawful order by the police and of breaching the procedure for organising and holding a demonstration. In their reports they referred to provisions of the Code on Administrative Offences and to the procedure for organising and holding meetings, rallies, street marches and demonstrations in the city of Lviv (see paragraphs 21 and 28 to 30 below). The reports were signed by the applicant.
13.  At 3 p.m. the applicant was taken to the Galytskyy District Court. He had no opportunity to study the case-file materials before the court hearing. During the hearing, the court rejected the applicant’s request to be represented by the lawyer of his choosing on the ground that the applicant was a human-rights defender and could defend himself. The applicant’s request to summon and question witnesses and examine a video made during the events of 12 October 2010 was also rejected by the court.
14.  By a decision of the same day, the court found the applicant guilty of committing the administrative offences of malicious disobedience to a lawful order by the police, and of breaching the procedure for organising and holding a demonstration. The court noted that the applicant had held a street march without the permission of the Lviv City Council and had ignored the lawful demands of the police to stop breaching the peace. He also refused to follow the police to their station but instead called the participants in the demonstration, who shouted and threatened the officers. The applicant denied all accusations. Having heard the applicant and examined the case-file materials, the court concluded that the applicant’s testimony was refuted by the written reports of the police officers and the traffic police officers. The court noted that the said reports had been drawn up correctly and therefore had to be taken into account. It sentenced the applicant to three days of administrative detention starting from 6 p.m. on 14 October 2010 with reference to the relevant provisions of the Code on Administrative Offences.
15.  At around 6 p.m. on 17 October 2010 the applicant was released.
16.  On 18 October 2010 the applicant appealed against the court’s decision of 14 October 2010. In his appeal, he complained that he had been found guilty even though he had not committed the alleged offences. He noted that under Article 39 of the Constitution a demonstration could be held subject to notifying the authorities and any restrictions on holding one could be imposed only by a court; no permission had therefore been required. He also noted that he had notified the City Council twice about the gathering in question and at the time it was held there had been no court decision prohibiting it. Therefore, he considered that he had organised the gathering of 12 October 2010 lawfully and the conclusions of the first-instance court that he had “held a meeting without permission of the City Council” had not been based on law as no such permission was required by domestic law. He further challenged the conclusion of the police that he had notified the authorities about the event only a few hours in advance, claiming that he had already done so on 17 August 2010. Furthermore, in his opinion, even the requirement of notification two days in advance, which had been established by the procedure for organising and holding meetings, rallies, street marches and demonstrations in the city of Lviv and to which the police referred in their reports on administrative offences, was not based on law, as the Constitutional Court in its decision of 19 April 2001 had decided that the procedure for such notification had to be a matter for legislative regulation.
17.  The applicant further maintained in his appeal that, in the absence of any lawful restrictions on holding a demonstration, demands by the police to stop such an event could not be considered lawful and the law did not provide for liability for disobeying unlawful demands of police officers. He finally complained that the first-instance court had violated his right to defend himself as it had refused to allow his lawyer to appear in the case on the ground that the applicant was a human-rights defender and therefore able to defend his rights himself.
18.  In a supplement to his appeal of 27 October 2010, the applicant complained that his punishment violated Article 11 of the Convention. Referring to provisions of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (b-d) of the Convention, he further complained that his right to defend himself had been violated, and that the first-instance court had refused to question the witnesses and to examine a video record of the peaceful demonstration.
19.  On 27 October 2010 the Lviv Regional Court of Appeal examined the applicant’s appeal in the presence of the applicant and his lawyer and rejected it. It summarised the findings of the first-instance court and the arguments of the applicant’s appeal. The court noted that the findings of the first-instance court as to the applicant’s guilt were well-founded and corresponded to the factual circumstances of the case. Those findings, in the court’s opinion, were confirmed by the police reports and other explanations and evidence. In reply to the applicant’s arguments to the effect that there had been no corpus delicti in his actions, the Court of Appeal noted that they should be disregarded, because they were refuted by the body of evidence in the case, without elaborating further on that point. The court referred in its decision to the relevant provisions of the Code on Administrative Offences.